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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 16 September 2022

Biden plans floating platforms to expand offshore wind power

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jersey coast set new records,
The Biden administration she said, and a lease sale also
on Thursday announced was held in North Carolina.
plans to develop float- Seven lease sales for offshore
ing platforms in the deep wind projects are planned by
ocean for wind towers 2025.
that could power millions More than half of the nation's
of homes and vastly ex- offshore wind resources are
pand offshore wind in the in deep waters where tradi-
United States. tional offshore wind foun-
dations are not economically
The plan would target sites in feasible, Haaland said, adding
the Pacific Ocean off the Cal- that "floating wind will help
ifornia and Oregon coasts, as us reach areas once not at-
well as in the Atlantic in the tainable. And this is critical
Gulf of Maine. because floating wind will
help us build on the admin-
President Joe Biden hopes istration's goal of 30 gigawatts
to deploy up to 15 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.''
of electricity through float- greenhouse gas emissions lead the world on floating
ing sites by 2035, enough to in half by 2030. A climate- offshore wind and bring off- Granholm, a top booster for The world's first floating
power 5 million homes. The and-tax bill Biden signed last shore wind jobs to more parts U.S. efforts to promote clean wind farm has been oper-
administration has previ- month would spend about of our country, including the energy, said the Biden admin- ating off Scotland's coast
ously set a goal of 30 GW of $375 billion over 10 years to West Coast.'' istration "is all-in on making since 2017. Norway-based
offshore wind by 2030 using boost electric vehicles, jump- Two pilot projects are floating offshore wind a real Equinor, which operates the
traditional technology that start renewable energy such planned off the north and part of our of our energy mix 30-megawatt Hywind Scot-
secures wind turbines to the as solar and wind power and central California coast, and a and winning the global race land project, is building a
ocean floor. develop alternative energy third is planned in southern to lead in this space. And huge, floating offshore wind
sources like hydrogen. Oregon, officials said. that's why we set this big, farm off Norway to provide
There are only a handful of hairy audacious goal'' of 15 electricity for offshore oil and
floating offshore platforms in Deepwater areas in the Pacif- Emerging technology for gigawatts of floating offshore gas fields.
the world — all in Europe — ic especially have potential to floating platforms "means wind by 2035.
but officials said the technol- vastly expand offshore wind there's real opportunity for Lauren Shane, a spokeswom-
ogy is developing and could energy in the U.S., McCar- the American people: an op- Interior Secretary Deb Haa- an for Equinor in the Unit-
soon establish the United thy and other officials said. portunity for greater energy land said her department has ed States, said the company
States as a global leader in security, greater energy af- approved the nation's first is optimistic about floating
offshore wind. McCarthy acknowledged fordability, cleaner air, clean- two major offshore wind offshore wind. "We see the
that the floating technology er water and of course tens projects in federal waters and potential for it. We're always
The push for offshore wind is at an early stage. But she of thousands of good-paying has begun reviewing at least evaluating opportunities and
is part of Biden's effort to said "coordinated actions" in-demand jobs,'' such as 10 more. we're committed to the U.S.,"
promote clean energy and by federal and state officials, electricians, engineers, ship she said. "We're excited about
address global warming. working with the private sec- builders and stevedores, Gra- An offshore wind lease sale the development of offshore
Biden has pledged to cut tor, can position the U.S. "to nholm said. off the New York and New wind in the U.S."

Mortgage rates hit 6%, first time since 2008 housing crash

WASHINGTON (AP) — from 5.89% last week. The cooled off a housing market Recently, faster inflation er three-quarters of a point
Average long-term U.S. long-term average rate has that has been hot for years. and strong U.S. economic when the central bank's lead-
mortgage rates climbed more than doubled since a Many potential home buy- growth have sent the 10-year ers meet next week. Some
over 6% this week for the year ago and is the highest ers are getting pushed out Treasury rate up sharply, to fear the Fed could raise the
first time since the hous- it's been since November of of the market as the higher 3.45%. rate by a full point, following
ing crash of 2008, threat- 2008, just after the housing rates have added hundreds of consecutive jumbo increases
ening to sideline even market collapse triggered the dollars to monthly mortgage The Fed has raised its bench- of three quarters of a point at
more homebuyers from Great Recession. One year payments. Sales of existing mark short-term interest its last two meetings.
a rapidly cooling housing ago, the rate stood at 2.86%. homes in the U.S. have fallen rate four times this year, and
market. for six straight months, ac- Chairman Jerome Powell has The government reported
Rising interest rates — in cording to the National As- said that the central bank will that U.S. economy shrank
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac part a result of the Federal sociation of Realtors. likely need to keep interest at a 0.6% annual rate from
reported Thursday that the Reserve's aggressive push to rates high enough to slow the April through June, a second
30-year rate rose to 6.02% tamp down inflation — have The average rate on 15-year, economy "for some time" in straight quarter of economic
fixed-rate mortgages, popular order to tame the worst infla- contraction, which meets one
among those looking to re- tion in 40 years. informal sign of a recession.
finance their homes, rose to Most economists, though,
5.21% from 5.16% last week. More inflation data this week have said they doubt that the
Last year at this time the rate suggests that while gas prices economy is in or on the verge
was 2.19%. have retreated significantly of a recession, given that the
since early in the summer, U.S. job market remains ro-
Mortgage rates don't neces- prices for most other neces- bust.
sarily mirror the Fed's rate in- sities have actually gone up,
creases, but tend to track the panicking investors who fear Applications for jobless aid
yield on the 10-year Treasury a possible recession if the Fed fell again last week and re-
note. That's influenced by a keeps boosting rates. main at their lowest level
variety of factors, including since May, despite the Fed's
investors' expectations for fu- Most economists forecast moves to tame inflation,
ture inflation and global de- that the Fed will jack up its which has a tendency to cool
mand for U.S. Treasurys. primary lending rate anoth- the job market as well.